


The Only Coin That's the Same

by Kunabee



Series: Fates Undecided [8]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Chara, Adult Frisk, Arguments, Discussions of death, Other, Reader is Chara (Undertale), Time Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27595030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kunabee/pseuds/Kunabee
Summary: There is only one person who understands you and what you've been through, but that is enough. You're two sides of the same coin.And, y'know: same hat.
Relationships: Chara & Frisk & Aliza, Chara & Frisk & Papyrus, Chara & Frisk (Undertale)
Series: Fates Undecided [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1516946
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	The Only Coin That's the Same

**Author's Note:**

> an adult frisk and chara! they're so professional

Frisk looks in the mirror. You stand there, helping them hold the body still.

You shared everything: your SOULs, your mind, your body.

They had wanted to give you a second chance. They regretted the way your SOULs had tied themselves together.

You couldn't regret it anymore. You had made it to adulthood. You were adults. Monsters were aboveground. You even had a place of your own, now.

All of the other fallen children had lost their abilities to mess with time. None of them had such a thorough, adaptable ability.

Aliza always woke up five seconds before her death Underground; Franklin could rewind or fast forward by five minutes. Those abilities had ended when you unified the timelines like you had.

You had told Frisk it was a silly idea. But everyone had been... different people.

You could see that.

Every Sans liked puns and Alphys always liked anime, but the way they were impacted by their scientific careers and excursions was different. Undyne was good with tech but the Undynes that became the royal scientist and the Undynes that became captain of the Royal Guard were boisterous in different ways.

Little changes. Big changes.

But you...

But _Azzy_...

Always a crybaby. Always angry when he died, although that anger could die or grow depending on how the timeline oriented itself.

And you were always angry and fierce and you always ate buttercups. Why the two of you were the same was beyond you. The Fallen Children made sense. After all, they all possessed some minor abilities to manipulate the timeline. Not as potent as Frisk's, of course, but...

 _You're overthinking again,_ they tell you in amusement. You stick your tongue out at them in the mirror. They laugh. You adjust the jacket and they spin slowly for you.

The two of you are in agreement. You look professional and ready for the meeting. It was... a boring meeting. You didn't need to be there except a human government absolutely _insisted_ you be there. You'd gone over it before. You are an ambassador, an _aid_ to several different Papyri and Sanses. You are not yourself anything important in the government. But some people's xenophobia ran so deep that even discovering that there had been certain monsters that lived amongst humanity, along with mages, and all the beneficial, life-saving and life-changing technology of the monsters couldn't change the fact that they saw you as a de facto leader.

Stars, but so did the monsters, for that matter. Frisk was still solving problems. They had just learned _boundaries_ and how to trust other people.

You leave your apartment.

Aliza is waiting for you.

You blink.

"We need to talk," she says.

"Can't right now. But we will," Frisk promises through your voice. They had been practicing. You're proud of them for overcoming most of their nonverbal tendencies.

"Meet at the cafe that you think looks good," Aliza says.

Frisk winces. That means Aliza saw the future again.

Weird kid. She remembered certain things but not everything through timelines - as did the other Fallen Children, as did all of the Sanses and Papyri - but she could also see the future.

This was the first time you had gone through this day.

Frisk saves next to the cafe. No need to make Aliza wait for them again and all of that.

The meeting goes well. Frisk doesn't need to do anything. The two of you don't, most days. As Frisk likes to remind you: _you_ control the power as well. You're equally responsible for the success of monsters aboveground and the unified timelines and blah blah blah.

You text Flowey to see how he's doing. It took you a while to realize that Flowey was different, but... Frisk got you there. Even with a SOUL, he was still so much unlike Azzy. And he didn't want to be called Azzy. When Frisk told you it was like a deadname, you got it _then_. You were just... a little slow on the uptake.

 _Quit thinking about the past. We have Aliza to meet with,_ Frisk scolds you.

You smile as you walk to the cafe. She's already waiting for you.

"What do you want to talk about?" you ask her. She wants a cup of tea and a slice of strawberry pie. You and Frisk get the same tea, and then a chocolate croissant and a cream cheese Danish respectively. You split both in half to eat half of each now and then half later. You had sharing down to a science.

She stays quiet, cutting her pie into even pieces. Frisk is patient. You want to fidget. You compromise by making patterns on the floor with one foot.

FInally, Aliza speaks. "Why haven't you RESET yet?" she asks.

Frisk practically has whiplash, food spilling out of your mouth as their shock freezes the body. You gently take over.

"We're not ever going to RESET," you say firmly. "We're in the best possible ending. And we've... taken care of that, anyway."

"You can still SAVE and LOAD," Aliza pointed out. "You do so. Regularly."

 _To save as many lives as possible,_ Frisk signs. You're starting to get angry because they're starting to get upset. _I promised. WE promised, we would never RESET again._

"Sans said you promised that before," Aliza says accusingly. "The first time you got the monsters their happy ending."

" _We_ never did," you say, standing the body up and smacking your hands on the tabletop. "Frisk and I were just as alarmed as everyone else the first time it happened! We didn't know _why_ , it was - it was -" You sit back down, trying to calm down enough to speak. "Flowey didn't get saved and we didn't even know about Gaster, but we... we accepted that it wasn't perfect the second time we got everyone there."

 _I just wanted it to stop,_ Frisk signs, their hands sharp on each sign. _I just wanted to stop going in circles_.

Aliza looks stunned, her eyes a little wide. She had probably never considered the possibility that RESTARTing could be used by someone beyond the two of you. But, well: it could. You still didn't know how or why, but RESTART was controlled by someone or something else sometimes. It's why you had to unify the timelines. Besides, it fixed the damage on some of them.

"But that's not possible," she said, her nose wrinkled in consternation.

Frisk uses the body to shrug. "It clearly is," you grumble. "Now, if that's everything -"

"It's not," Aliza interrupts. You sigh. Frisk wants to stay, wants to clear the air... There's always tension between you two and the other Fallen Children. It's because you two are different, you're always different. Everyone leans on Frisk for help but who cares what _Frisk_ wants! It's how it always is! You're the only one to care about Frisk and they're the only one to care about you -

 _That's not true,_ they tell you before you spiral. They think of Flowey, of Papyrus, of Toriel and Asgore. You sigh. Flowey... yeah, Flowey definitely cares. So you two at least have Flowey, and Azzy even deeper than that. But you're not sold on the rest, not even the Toriels and Asgores who raised you (in the past and _now_ , on the Surface in a unified timeline). Frisk understands. The only one who _always_ understands you. Even when you lash out at them... well. It's only fair, considering how often they've lashed out on you as well.

 _So what else?_ Frisk asks, their motions slow and fluid.

"Why did you kill the monsters?"

Frisk tenses.

"They're so good. They weren't starving. You had such an easy time, Sans even _stuck his neck out for you_ -"

"Is that what he says he did," you snort. "That smiley trashbag did _no such thing_. Killed us himself over 980 _thousand_ times. Admittedly, after we killed everyone else in the Underground, but still. There are _two_ monsters who never succeeded in killing us: Monster Kid and Papyrus. Both because neither of them ever _wanted_ to, even in the Fell timelines, even when Papyrus was our final enemy after slaughtering the entire Underground. But everyone else, even Toriel - Toriel told us herself she thought our deaths caused by _her_ would be better than our suffering through the rest of the Underground."

You clench your hands into fists. "Sans _spied_ on us. He watched us die. Oh, sure, he protected us a little bit in the Fell timelines, but he never really stuck his neck out to us other than to help endear us to his brother. He just kept a promise until we gave him no choice."

Your cheeks are wet. Frisk is crying hard enough to cause the body to cry. You have to fight against their apathy and hurt. "We died over seven _million_ times. To every. single. monster, at least once, except for Papyrus and MK. MK because he never attacked us, and Papyrus because - Papyrus is _always_ a good person, even if he can be an asshole sometimes."

"Papyrus is _not_ an asshole," Aliza squeaks. "Even - even the Fell ones."

"You didn't see them like we did," you fire back. "You didn't _see_ their desperation for the final SOUL. When they did it all over again - that was _despair_ , Aliza, desperately clinging to hope so they don't all _dust_. But for us... for _us_..." You lick your lips, swallow. "The monsters are not perfect. I choose to love them anyway."

 _I do love them,_ Frisk signs desperately. _I love them all. They're my friends, my family. I saved them. I broke the powers of RESET so that it never happens again. I never let them die._

"But they let us die," you say flatly. "Because we just reLOAD and then it's fine. We save every few hours, just to make sure we don't lose _months_ of progress because an accident or assassination happens. We do that _alone_ , and we're lucky enough to have each other."

You gather the pastries and take the still half-full cup of tea, leaving Aliza sitting there stunned.

 _Are you okay?_ you ask Frisk.

 _No,_ they say plaintively, and that means they need someone. You don't know why you're possessed to call a Papyrus, but you do.

"Paps, Frisk needs you," you say. "Where can we meet you?"

He grumbles about you calling him Paps, but says he's free. Which: _good_. He's so busy most of the time, with being a physical therapist. You make your way to his house, knocking on the door while Frisk falls apart in your head. When he opens the door, you relinquish control of the body and they let out a broken, rasping sob.

As grumpy as he is, he takes Frisk and bustles them inside. Soon they're sitting down with more tea, Papyrus sitting across from them. His prosthetic leg is decorated with flames, the choice he uses most often.

"I'm sorry," Frisk rasps, forcing themselves to speak. Despite the fact that you use their voice regularly, they're almost always hoarse.

"YES, WELL, IF I HAD A PROBLEM, I WOULDN'T HAVE LET YOU OVER," he dismisses.

They shake their head, setting the tea down. _Not about that. I'm sorry about - about the Underground. Everything that happened there._

"WHAT _HAPPENED_?" he said in awe, frowning. "YOU APOLOGIZED ABOUT THAT SO MANY TIMES AS A CHILD THAT I BELIEVE THAT PRETTY MUCH ALL OF US HAD TO BAN YOU FROM APOLOGIZING ANYMORE."

Frisk lets out a hiccupy giggle, still contending with tears.

Your voice sounds teary when you speak up, too. You hate crying for this reason. "Aliza confronted us today."

Papyrus sighs, leaning back and closing his eyes. "I SEE." His voice is slow and measured. "I SUPPOSE I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY. OTHER PEOPLE... TALK." The disdain in the word 'talk' makes you think he doesn't approve, which _you_ approve of. Frisk doesn't need this stress. They're too upset right now to remind you that you matter too, which makes you mentally wince. "YOU'RE NOT TRUSTED. EITHER OF YOU."

His voice lowers, his expression gentle. "It's Not Fair, But It Is Justified. But Tell Me This, Frisk. How Many Times Were You Killed By Me?"

 _We weren't_ , Frisk signs. _Not a single Papyrus killed us. You captured us. You have perfect control. Even Toriel has killed us before, but not_ you.

He looks surprised by this, and you smirk at him.

"Well, I Am... Glad I Am The Exception. But I Don't Think Most People Realize How Much _You_ Dealt With. Both Of You. The Hope Of All Monsterkind."

"I'm tired," Frisk croaks, admitting it. Both of you are tired. Always helping, always fixing things, always caring about and for people. You've SAVEd and LOADed billions of times. You count each death like a prayer and Frisk knows exactly how many days have been on repeat.

"I Will Talk To Aliza," Papyrus promises. "She Senses Our Lack of Trust, And Has Finally Decided To Do Something About It. I Do Care About You, Frisk, Chara... But No-one Should Have That Much Power."

"I agree," you say. Papyrus looks at you in surprise. Your voice is clear, throat not hoarse - he knows _you_ were the one who said it. You smile grimly at him. "As much as I'm glad we freed the monsters, we went through hell to get here. We put _other people_ through hell. Sometimes not even intentionally. And still, everyone expects us to be heroes. You think they'd learn after they drove me to suicide."

"YES, WELL. PEOPLE DO HAVE TROUBLE LEARNING," Papyrus says.

You thank him for his time and get Frisk home. They need a nap. You need chocolate.

Your phone dings with a text, from Aliza. It's simple:

I'm sorry.

She doesn't even know. She doesn't understand the weight that you and Frisk carry alone. You put the phone away and put on a hat, imagining you and Frisk side by side, holding on to each other. They pay attention to your imagination. _Same hat_ , you say. They snort.

 _Memelord. You don't even use modern memes_.

You smile. So do they. You'll both be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> i love horrorfell paps. i feel like he ends up being the best of all papyri combined. papyri are observant and kind and fell paps is a natural leader who is very determined and horrorfell paps just ends up... wise. and blunt and honest and kind of an asshole, but like... in a good way.


End file.
